Szukaj
Russia's strategy for Latin America: Strengthening ties in the light of the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan (Russia)
Since Russia started its war of aggression against Ukraine by illegally annexing the Crimean peninsula, it has been seeking to foster relations with countries in the Global South that are not firmly aligned with the Western world. In 2023, a change in Russia's foreign policy of 2016 placed a greater emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Africa, where the Kremlin has been building influence since the Soviet era. Russia's strategic goal is to counter the United States presence in the ...
Strengthening the right to participate: legitimacy and resilience of electoral processes in illiberal political systems and authoritarian regimes
In 2022, the Human Rights Subcommittee decided to prepare a Recommendation to the Council, the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on how to respond to undemocratic elections by strengthening the human right to participate in public affairs. On 25 January 2023, a Workshop was organised on behalf of the Human Rights Subcommittee to discuss the challenge of elections in authoritarian countries from a human rights perspective. It focused on authoritarian ...
Conference on the future of human rights, June 2022 – Panel summaries
Human rights are under severe threat around the world. This is due to several factors, including the rise of authoritarianism, the COVID-19 pandemic, deepening economic inequalities, and conflicts that take an ever-higher human toll. Even more alarmingly, human rights violations are taking place in a climate of rising impunity. Tackling impunity globally is therefore becoming an urgent task. In June 2022, EPRS – together with two non-governmental organisations, Fight Impunity and No Peace Without ...
'The state of impunity in the world': Summary of the 2021 report on global rights by Fight Impunity
There is a broad consensus about the deterioration of democracy and human rights across the world due, among other things, to growing authoritarianism, the coronavirus pandemic, deepening economic inequalities, new trends in artificial intelligence, and increasingly severe conflicts. This deterioration has taken place amidst rising impunity, i.e. the impossibility of bringing the perpetrators of violations to account. Tackling impunity globally is therefore an urgent task, as highlighted in several ...
European Day of Remembrance for Victims of all Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes
On 2 April 2009, the European Ϸվ decided that 23 August each year should mark the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of All Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. With the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had divided Europe into spheres of interest. That agreement, with its secret protocols, preceded the German attack on Poland on 1 September 1939 and the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland, as well as the Soviet occupation and later annexation ...
Policy Departments’ Monthly Highlights - February 2022
The Monthly Highlights publication provides an overview, at a glance, of the on-going work of the policy departments, including a selection of the latest and forthcoming publications, and a list of future events.
The misuse of social media platforms and other communication channels by authoritarian regimes: Lessons learned
Disinformation has continued to spread in recent years, receiving a significant boost during the COVID-19 pandemic and constituting one of the most pressing threats for democratic countries. Authoritarian regimes have played their part in the proliferation of manipulated content, particularly disinformation. This paper analyses recent instances of the misuse of social media platforms and other communication channels perpetrated by authoritarian regimes in Iran, China, and Russia to influence the ...
EU-Belarus relations: State of play - Human rights situation
Over the summer and autumn of 2021, in what is increasingly viewed as a hybrid warfare tactic aimed at destabilising Europe, Aliaksandr Lukashenka's Belarussian regime has instrumentalised migrants, manipulating the organisation of flights from the Middle East to Minsk and deliberately orchestrating migrants' onward travel to the EU-Belarus border. With weather conditions endangering migrants' lives, the situation has also led to serious humanitarian consequences. This activity – which many argue ...
Russia's 2021 elections: Another step on the road to authoritarian rule
On 17-19 September, Russia will hold elections at local, regional and national level, most importantly to the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly. Four hundred and fifty deputies will be elected for a five-year term. Ever since 2003, the State Duma has been dominated by the pro-Putin United Russia party, which currently holds a three-quarters supermajority. With the ruling party clearly in charge, the parliament serves as little more than a rubber stamp for Kremlin and government ...
Political crisis in Guinea
On 5 September, a coup perpetrated by the military removed the President of Guinea, Alpha Condé, from power. The president was less than one year into his third term, obtained after a much-contested constitutional amendment. Under Condé, the administration yielded disappointing economic results and he was increasingly perceived as an authoritarian ruler who handled his opponents and critics with harsh repressiveness.